GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.
He immediately grabbed the person's wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.
"I guess he thought I was an easy mark," Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday.
He's anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer and retired after 20 years as an iron worker.
Jesse Daniel Rae, the 27-year-old Newaygo County man accused of trying to pick Barnes' pocket, was arraigned Monday in Rockford District Court on one count of unarmed robbery, a 15-year felony.
Barnes said he had just withdrawn the money from a bank machine and put it in the pocket of his shorts before driving to the Marathon service station and Next Door Food Store in Comstock Park, a Grand Rapids suburb.
He remembers noticing a patron acting suspiciously, asking the price of different brands of cigarettes and other items. While turned away, Barnes felt the hand in his pocket, so he took action.
"I guess I acted on instinct," he said.
Kent County sheriff's deputies said the store manager quickly came around the counter. The three of them struggled through the front door, where two witnesses said the manager slammed Rae to the ground and held him there.
"There was blood everywhere," said another manager on duty, Abby Ostrom, 25.
Barnes was a regional runner-up in Golden Gloves competition in the novice and open divisions before enlisting in the Marines in 1956.
He lived most of his adult life in Comstock Park with his wife, Patricia, before recently moving to Ottawa County. The couple have three children.
After retiring as an iron worker, he now works part-time as a starter at a golf course.
Barnes said he'd probably do the same thing again under the same circumstances, if for no other reason than what he would face back home.
"I wouldn't want my wife to give me hell for lettin' that guy get my money," he said with a smile.
And if that isn't enough, we really know how to give our wheelchair bound folks a push...
Quote:
Originally Posted by AP
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Ben Carpenter got the ride of a lifetime when his electric wheelchair became lodged in the grille of a semitrailer and was accidentally pushed down a highway for several miles at about 50 mph.
His father, Donald Carpenter, was incredulous when police called to tell him his 21-year-old son was OK after the wild ride.
"I said, 'What happened?'" Donald Carpenter recalled Thursday.
He said his son had started to cross Wednesday afternoon at an intersection in Paw Paw, about 140 miles west of Detroit, where the truck had stopped for a red light. The light changed to green while Carpenter was still in front of the semi, which started moving forward.
The truck bumped into the side of the wheelchair, which then started turning forward, its handles becoming lodged in the grille, the father said. The wild ride had started.
"He's so low that the truck driver couldn't see him, and the truck headed out," he said.
The wheelchair, with Carpenter strapped in it, ended up being pushed by the truck as it sped down the Red Arrow Highway. Police said the wheelchair was pushed about four miles, but Donald Carpenter said it was about half that.
Ben Carpenter said while all of this was going on, he seriously considered the possibility that he might not make it before the truck came to a complete halt.
"I was probably thinking that this is going to keep going and not stop anywhere, 50 or 60 miles somewhere," he told Grand Rapids television station WOOD.
"It was pretty scary," he told WDIV-TV of Detroit.
The bizarre sight caught the attention of motorists, many of whom called 911 on their cell phones. A pair of undercover police officers who happened to be driving in the opposite direction at the time saw what was happening, did a quick U-turn, followed the truck to its business and informed the disbelieving driver, Donald Carpenter said.
His son escaped injury.
"He's fine," Donald Carpenter said. "Not a scratch. He was basically just scared."
Ben Carpenter, who has muscular dystrophy, lives with his parents in nearby Kalamazoo. He had gone to Paw Paw to ride on a trail with a medical aide who was on a bicycle, his father said.
The aide had fallen slightly behind Carpenter by the time he was crossing the intersection and, because of the angle, didn't see him being pushed down the road. She had no idea what had happened to him.
"She was frantic and then a driver at the intersection started honking his horn and said he's attached to the front of the truck," Donald Carpenter said. The aide then used her cell phone to call for help.
The father said being pushed down the road by the truck burned most of the rubber off the tires of the wheelchair, but otherwise didn't damage it. The tires were replaced Thursday morning, in time for his son to use the wheelchair this weekend at a muscular dystrophy camp.
"It's a very bad story that ended very well," he said. "We're just thrilled that he's still around."
27-June-07, 07:38 AM
Don't mess with Grand Rapids 
Re: Don't mess with Grand Rapids 
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